


In Good Hands

by Tonko



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-21
Updated: 2011-07-21
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:16:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tonko/pseuds/Tonko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanji gets a massage with a happy ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Good Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the awesome [printfogey](http://archiveofourown.org/users/printfogey/profile) for the beta :D any remaining errors are all mine.

It had been a hell of a past few days, that was for sure, Usopp thought. Sunny had taken a beating from a storm that just would not quit. Adam wood didn't break, but some joins had been knocked awry, a few nails were loose, the rigging was a complete mess, and a great many more cosmetic repairs needed to be made. And, aside from meat, they were scarily low on food, hence the trek into town for some of the crew as soon as they'd reached this island—Nami and Robin were in one room at this little hotel, he and Sanji in the other. By the time they'd arrived, they were all running rather low on energy.

Some more than others.

Sanji had been up in the rigging for hours last night, working with Robin to deal with loosening and fraying lines. During the worst of it, he'd been stuck for over an hour holding taut a vital, snapped rope that no one could spare the time to retie when the winds had gone from rough to truly terrifying.

Through Sanji's efforts, Zoro's immovable grip on the wheel, and everyone else's scrambling or tumbling across the heaving deck at Nami's command, they had been able to keep from capsizing among hundred-foot waves, and even roughly maintain their course.

So when the sky had darkened into night behind the cloud cover, and a final monstrous whitecap had tossed them into abruptly calm seas, they'd only barely waited for Nami's say-so before collapsing into sleep. All but Brook and Chopper, who had spent the last few hours of the storm in comparatively less exertion, keeping the barrels and crates in the holds from snapping free of their bolts and nets. They got to keep watch.

And then this morning Sanji had almost fallen out of his bunk, the one over Usopp's, waking him up. Sanji had sputtered some low curses after his uncharacteristic thud to the floor.

"Shoulders," he'd grunted, in reply to Usopp's half-awake questioning noise. "Fuck!" he added with a pained grunt, "my back. Go back to sleep, breakfast in an hour," he'd waved Usopp's attention away and staggered off to the galley, swinging his arms to begin stretching them as he left.

Sanji could kick down a building if he felt like it. But his hands and arms were trained more for agility than power. Usopp couldn't even imagine directly battling the forces of nature and the inertia of the Thousand Sunny like Sanji had with those ropes.

The consequences hadn't been obvious for the rest of the day. Usopp eventually hauled himself out of bed and wandered into the galley, twinging with only minor aches (having mostly been running his ass off—and yelling his throat hoarse—instead of performing feats of crazy and unreasonable strength). By then, Sanji was wielding his frying pans with what appeared to be his usual ease, and then later had certainly managed the long hike inland from the port town to the merchant center without any trouble. But as they'd reached the town, the stiffness in his back had become hard to miss for anyone who knew how Sanji normally moved.

So now he knelt over Sanji, who lay facedown on the clean-smelling sheets of the rented room's bed. The covers were bunched against the footboard, and all Sanji wore was his navy blue boxer-briefs. Usopp was likewise undressed, even if his boxers were a less sexy green-and-yellow plaid.

Usopp put his hands against the rigid muscles of Sanji's shoulders, and ran them down his back, feeling the smooth, shower-warmed skin over the stiffness that had become more pronounced all day.

Sanji groaned into the mattress, and Usopp smiled a little. "Thought you were supposed to stretch before exercise," he needled Sanji, who snorted.

"Yeah, next time a line goes I'll do that," he growled back, voice muffled, not sounding particularly angry.

Usopp poured out a little of the oil he'd found in a very interesting little shop a few island-stops back, and warmed it between his hands. Sweet almond, or so the vendor had described it. It had been a delightful discovery—it disappeared into the skin at a rate slow enough that it helped his hands move easily over Sanji's body, but fast enough that, soon after he was done, there was no leftover oiliness to speak of.

He began to work properly on Sanji's shoulders, squeezing and rubbing with slowly increasing pressure, kneading with palm and thumb on one hand and knuckles with the other. The hot shower had started the process already, and Usopp could feel it, with great satisfaction, as the muscles relaxed slowly under his hands.

Sanji was lean, and when his muscles were tight he felt to Usopp like he was as wound up as one of the ropes he'd been holding all that time. Usopp vastly preferred him pliable and limber, and there was a particular satisfaction to being able to help him return to that state. At times like this, Usopp felt like he best understood Chopper's love for healing.

"Harderrr," Sanji mumbled at him, and Usopp grinned. Hearing stuff like that was another reason he liked doing this. Sanji usually seemed at his most content when he was either feeding his crewmates, or making the girls happy. Usopp felt lucky he was able make _Sanji_ happy while doing something for _him_. Usopp bit his lip as he smiled, not wanting to laugh and possibly tweak at Sanji's pride, even without meaning it. Teasing now that he'd started might make Sanji tense up, even if just a bit, and Usopp didn't want that.

He just pressed harder, as requested. Sanji shifted under him, and Usopp had to resettle himself.

Yes, Usopp liked doing this for Sanji... but... Okay. This wasn't purely for _Sanji's_ benefit....

*

If it wasn't for the muscle pain—which he was perfectly able to fight through, thanks, just that the fatigue was making it worse—Sanji would've been in a state of blissful hedonism already, instead of just heading in that general direction.

Usopp's hands could make perfect projectiles, could control the aim on a ranged weapon without shaking, could fashion ingenious gadgets for all manner of purposes... and give the best fucking massages anywhere in all the Blues and the Grand Line. In Sanji's—"There, oh god,"—admittedly biased opinion as the person who Usopp had practiced on most of the time.

And right now, in that biased opinion, this massage was better than _sex_. Another fifteen or twenty minutes and he vaguely imagined that he would ready to revise that assessment. For now, he just closed his eyes while Usopp pressed expertly against the muscles that had felt just about ready to tear apart this morning and, finally, made them stop hurting. They'd loosened up enough to function when he'd forced them to, and Chopper had pressed a container of relaxant salve into his hands, but there'd been no time to apply that. There had simply been too much to do today. And then part of the route to this town requiring those ladders on that cliff... the road that wagons took was much longer, and they hadn't had the time. Besides, he was hardly debilitated! But it hadn't helped, he'd been forced to admit.

This, though... This helped.

Usopp's hands were warm from the gliding friction of the massage, alternating flat pressure with the rolling ridge of his knuckles, and he took his time on Sanji's shoulders, concentrating to the point that he wasn't even talking, just staying silent for the moment. There was no sound in the room but breathing, the occasional soft shift of the bedclothes, and the smooth sound of hands on oiled skin.

Sanji drifted in the quiet and the comfort, but not too far, tugged back with each press of Usopp's hands that made the aches bloom briefly and dully before the warmth and pressure blotted them out. He didn't want to go too far, anyway. Who would, under these hands?

Eventually, Usopp lifted his hands away from Sanji's shoulders, leaving only a faint, dull ache, and tingling heat.

He slid off Sanji, the mattress shifting with the redistribution of weight, and Sanji mumbled wordlessly in irked protest, but trailed off when Usopp settled beside him instead, and took hold of his left arm, warm, slick palms and fingers wrapping around his upper arm and beginning to push at the aches there instead.

"Did you know," Usopp began, voice low, conversational, with a hint of a smile in the tone, and he started telling Sanji about the Walled City of Jiase, a jungle paradise hidden at the center of a winter island, about how the inhabitants lived in homes that were grown from giant flowers. "There's always perfume in the air," he said, "because the flowers grow so large. And to anyone else in the world, that scent is as good as a love potion."

As Sanji followed the rhythm and sway of the story—a sedate one, by Usopp's standards, heavy on atmospheric description and light on high action, and all of it steeped in the scent of the massage oil—Usopp's hands followed the aches down Sanji's arms, and then returned to his back, rubbing and pushing against the muscles, driving the lingering pain from them, until all of Sanji's upper body felt no longer like a rigid knot, but undone and nearly boneless

He sighed, long and deep. Usopp ran both hands flat up his back, and pulled them back down, now with only fingers touching, dragging lines of warmth in their wake. Sanji pressed his own fingers slightly against the bedsheet, rubbing idly.

Usopp shifted again off Sanji, but this time, Sanji felt Usopp's hands slide partway under his side. Sanji was lifted and turned, and he focused just enough so that he rolled onto his back somewhat under his own power. The sheet was cool at first, and for a few moments seemed to trap the lingering impressions of Usopp's fingers against his skin. The air, too, was suddenly cool against his chest, and then Usopp moved to straddle his hips.

An entirely different kind of heat meandered into him, and made Sanji arch, just slightly, eyes still closed. There was no urgency to it, not yet, and Usopp ignored the reaction anyway, in favour of picking up his left hand. A gentle massage now, against the strained tendons and the bruises the ropes had made from being wrapped around his hand. The right hand got identical treatment, and Sanji flexed his hand throughout, his fingers brushing against Usopp's, trapping them, getting in the way. Usopp pinched gently at his fingertips by way of reprimand. Sanji mustered the energy to laugh audibly enough that Usopp would hear, and heard the replying grin in Usopp's voice as he wound down the last few lines of his story. He put down Sanji's hand, and started a slow rub against his chest.

"So the prince left the Walled City behind him, and made the long journey back to the shore on foot." Usopp spoke low and steadily. "He kept the plant inside his winter clothes, up against his body, to protect it from the bitter cold, and he could feel its smooth leaves and soft petals against his skin with each step." His palms pressed warmth into Sanji's chest, and each time they reached his shoulders again, Usopp's fingers stroked lightly against the skin of his neck. Sanji arched his back again as the line of his mental horizon shifted with slowly-encroaching lust.

"He saw at last the flickering orange lights of his ship's lanterns through the darkening evening air, and returned to the faithful crew that had brought him to the island. He greeted them joyfully, and they him, but he soon retreated quickly to the warmth of his cabin, where he freed the flower to the open air. It was as the royal daughter had promised. Though its scent no longer filled his mind with the fog of passion, it remained the finest perfume known outside Jiase, and its colours the brightest of any blossom."

*

Usopp felt a little smug, like usual at times like this. Who wouldn't, with Sanji sprawled all loose-limbed, skin faintly gleaming from the oil, eyes closed and face in a relaxed smile.

The ridge of heat that had hardened under Usopp as he worked was also a definite plus. Restrained by the fabric of Sanji's shorts, the shape of it was plainly visible when Usopp slid back a little. But not visible enough. As Usopp finished his story, he tugged at the waistband, and ran the back of one finger up the length and down.

Sanji exhaled a moan with an audible smile, and this time Usopp did let himself laugh a little. Couldn't be mistaken for anything but anticipation, now. He knelt up and tugged Sanji's shorts down and off, and grabbed the oil bottle from the side table.

Usopp appreciated versatility in a product.

A little on his palm would do fine, but he held his hand cupped a moment and wrapped his other hand around Sanji's cock, feeling the silky-smooth foreskin taut under his fingers for a few seconds before stroking up and down. Sanji rolled his hips languidly into Usopp's grip, his shoulders shifting slightly too, as if he was making an attempt at leverage. But he wouldn't need that.

Usopp slicked him up with the next stroke, spreading the oil and tightening his grip a little more. He sped his strokes up just enough to keep Sanji from needing to move, and palmed his balls. Sanji made a pleased sound, and shifted his legs.

"Okay, okay," Usopp acquiesced in a low voice, and moved back, kneeling between Sanji's legs instead. He had the room now to slide his hand lower, his slippery fingers finding Sanji's hole, and pressed two inside with little effort. Sanji really was relaxed.

"Mmmm," Sanji told him, and that was generally an encouraging noise. Usopp knew the right place, and stroking there made Sanji's breathing deepen audibly in response. His face was flushed now, pink spreading over his cheeks and, more faintly, across his chest. "More," he murmured, barely audible, and Usopp quickened his strokes some, shifting himself idly as he did. His shorts felt tight, now, and he could feel his own pulse in his cock. He had to resist the urge to gather Sanji up for something more energetic. Watching his own hands on Sanji was a pleasure all its own, though, looking at the flushed colour of Sanji's cock in his hand, the precome from the head mingling with the oil, and the place where his fingers disappeared into Sanji's body.

"And... here," he spoke aloud without thinking as his fingers found the spot again. He dragged pressure more firmly now, and heard the reaction in Sanji's hitching breath. Rhythm was important, but he'd learned what worked. His hands remembered.

*

All Sanji had to do was breath, that was it, nothing more, because the grip on him was perfectly tight, Usopp's warm palm and strong fingers sliding smooth and easy, and inside him Usopp was touching, nudging, pressing... And between the motions was the space for him to complete it all, rock his hips up into Usopp's hand and down against his fingers. The bed, the smooth sheets, the smell of the oil, all faded back from the rolling warmth and ever-narrowing focus on nothing but warm hands and slick motion.

Too slow. He wanted faster now.

He heard a sound, barely a sound, mostly breath. Was that him? He didn't care, because he was getting what he wanted, yes, there, like that, like _that_.

*

Usopp held his breath when Sanji came, didn't blink, just watched his body go taut. Come slid over Usopp's fingers and landed on Sanji's stomach as his cock twitched in Usopp's hand.

And then Sanji relaxed against the sheet, sighing out another low, smiling groan, and Usopp let go carefully, withdrew his hands slowly, wary of causing any discomfort due to oversensitivity. He leaned away to grab the damp cloth he'd gotten ready before, and mopped up with extreme care. Sanji looked to be more than halfway to asleep now, and that was just right. He wasn't even moving, just letting his fatigue finally win out completely.

Usopp moved back off the bed and retrieved the pillows from on top of the clothes chest below the foot. He coaxed Sanji into cooperating just long enough to settle his head on one, which he did with another little mumble of contentment and a languid roll onto his side.

"Mmmwait," Sanji spoke mostly into the pillow and didn't open his eyes at all. "Wanted t'watch you too... y'didn't... didn't..."

Usopp leaned down, and Sanji subsided when their foreheads touched. "Couldn't wait," Usopp told him, low and a bit rough now, "not while watching you." He could feel the wet spot in his shorts cooling now, and grimaced a little.

"Heheh," Sanji's self-satisfaction came across very well in that muffled little laugh, and Usopp planted a kiss below his ear before standing back and moving off to the tiny bathroom attached to this room.

By the time he'd returned, he had to bite his cheek against loud giggles. Sanji had his face smushed against the pillow and his hair going any which way, he looked boneless and totally, well, conked out.

He toyed only briefly with the urge to test Sanji's depth of sleep with a comment regarding Nami and a distinct lack of clothing, and then he just laughed to himself and put out the lights, then got into bed, sleepiness coming on in a tidal wave, as if the lights out was the signal. Well. No better place to be just now, to solve that particular problem. He settled against his own pillow.

Tomorrow was another big day. Sanji would be helping Robin and Nami with all his energy, hauling without complaint... and Usopp would probably have to do the same thing, except that he definitely _would_ be making loud and frequent complaints. Nami would work her magic on the vendors. Robin and Sanji would intimidate anyone who needed intimidating. Business as usual.

Nami had predicted they'd likely be here for a second night, needing to order some items in large quantities, and then get a morning start with a rental cart to haul it all back down to the port...

Usopp opened his eyes in the near-dark and followed the faint line of Sanji's body under the blankets.

Second night was fine by him.


End file.
